"Discipline and Punish" by Foucault
by Alyson McElhinny Foucault's "Discipline and Punish" is basically a history of the modern penal system. Foucault tells about the tine before prison when harsh public punishments contributed to unrest among people, ultimately giving the public more reasons for rebellion. With the prison system, the punishment and cruel treatment occurs behind closed, locked doors and so, the public do not see anything that makes them believe that they are being controlled in such a way. He recognizes that "reformers" of the 18th century were never motivated by any concern regarding the welfare of prisoners. Instead, these institutions want to make power operate more efficiently. Before prisons, the power institutions came up with the disciplines. These are a series of techniques that power institutions use to control the body's operations. They do this through coercion/arrangement of their actions and the space and time in which they live. An example of this today is the way in which prisons dictate the time inmates wake up, eat, and sleep. They also use tools like this in the military by using similar time structures that also include their military drills and exercises. They believed that these disciplines helped to create individual people out of the mass of people. Foucault sees disciplinary power as containing three important elements. These elements are: hierarchical observation, normalizing judgement, and examination. Hierarchical observation refers to coercion through observation. Normalizing judgement refers to an established standard norm that influences the way individuals see themselves and the way they measure up when compared to each other. Then, when Foucault mentions examination, he is referring to the process of "formalization of the individual within power relations." Institutions modelled after Bentham's Panopticon, a building in which individuals are supervised and controlled in a way that is seen as efficient, start to spread through society and this is how prisons develop. Foucault vocalizes that the main goal or aim of prisons is to reform a criminal by depriving them of the freedom. Delinquents are created to control popular behavior and marginalize it. These institutions continue to hold power over minds and bodies, control that a lot of people don't realize unless they experience it firsthand. This reading is an important part of our reading list because it is a way of thinking that was not common beforehand, but it is an extremely interesting way to think about how philosophy and history can be related. This thought process also forms connections between prisons, schools, the military, etc. With Foucault in mind, people can think about the past in a more critical way and they can question the system that is in place in society today and form theories on whether of not they believe it is the best system. I know that for me, Foucault looks at things in a much different way than I ever have. So, reading about the way that Foucault sees things opens my eyes to another thought process. Foucault brings up really good points. As people and citizens in society, we should take time to really think about the institutions that hold power over us, how they use that power, and whether or not it is good or bad. Category:Foucault Category:Discipline and Punish Category:Penal systems Category:Discipline Category:Punish Category:Philosophical Historian Category:Hierarchical observation Category:Normalizing judgement Category:Examination Category:Power Category:Power institutions Category:Prisons Category:Control Category:Panopticon